Bloodied and Bruised, and Somehow Saved
by SpawnOfBellatrix
Summary: Seymour declares his love for Audrey before Audrey II even begins to speak. But can such a love survive with Orin Scrivello still alive?
1. Chapter 1

_Welcome to my first fanfiction! The idea for this came when, while listening to the Original Cast Recording on shuffle, "Suddenly, Seymour" was immediately followed by "Feed Me," and I began to wonder if such an order could possibly work. Please review, and let me know if it does. _

5:55. Time to start shoving customers out, something Mr. Mushnik never could have dreamed he'd have to do.

"Come back tomorra to see the wonderful weird Audrey II! It'll be even bigger and better, right Krelborn?" The exhausted botanist nodded in reply as he moved through a crowd of reporters and fans towards the door, knowing they'd follow him right out. "Closing time!" Seymour cried out as strongly as he could. He staggered with exhaustion with each step, barely able to move. Passing the nights by letting a large flytrap drink his blood took a toll on him physically, it appeared.

By 6:04, Mushnik's Skid Row Florist was devoid of customers, fans, and reporters for the day. "Three whole weeks of customers!" Mushnik exclaimed. _Please don't droop tonight,_ Seymour tried to silently will his plant, unsure if he could take another round of feedings, of finger prickings and blood suckings that left him weak, weary, and sleepless. Thankfully, Audrey II's pod stood upright for now. "Keep that that plant beautiful Seymour!" Mushnik called as his final adieu before leaving his shop to the storehand and his plant. And…

_Audrey!_ He finally remembered. Audrey was still in the back room. Rushing over there (and careful not to stumble in front of her), Seymour called out, "Audrey, everyone's gone, it's closing time!" But when he finally got to the back room, he didn't see the blonde at the table where she normally worked. A quiet whimper came from across the room, and Seymour followed it to his coworker, whom he found sitting on an overturned bucket in the corner, her face buried in her hands.

Quietly, Seymour knelt down beside her, softly asking, "Audrey, are you okay?"

Audrey looked up with tear-streaked eyes. "Oh, Seymour! I'm , uh…I'm fine," she said, trying to mask her tears with a smile, beautiful and sad.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked innocently.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Audrey responded, "I…I have a date tonight." "And you don't want to go?"

Audrey bit her lip, the tears welling up in her eyes, and shook her head no before hiding her face again and giving in to her sobs.

Seymour knew he needed to do something, but what? Maybe this was his chance to try…if she'd let him.

"You don't have to," he gently told her.

She looked up again, her face drenched in fresh tears. "If I don't, Orin'll get angry. And he'll come looking for me, and-" Audrey stopped before she could finish, her lip quivering as she struggled not to cry too much in front of Seymour. All her crying had begun to wash away her makeup, revealing bruises and abrasions that Seymour had never seen, ones that she had managed to fully hide. Fury welled up inside him, that someone, a man, could hurt this delicate beauty in such a horrible way. But this anger made him brave.

Mustering up all his courage, Seymour gingerly placed his hand on her shoulder. "Audrey," he said, "why do you let him do this to you? There are guys that'd kill to be with you. You could have any guy you wanted to, a nice boy." He smiled at her a little, hoping he was comforting her instead of scaring her off.

"I don't deserve a nice boy, Seymour," she responded glumly. "Yes you d-" "You don't know the half of it!" she exclaimed suddenly, "I've lived a terrible life. I deserve Orin Scrivello, DDS." Seymour opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off again with, "You wanna know where I met 'im?" He looked quizzically at her, and she continued, "The Guttah."

He raised his eyebrows, "The gutter?" Audrey nodded, "The Guttah. It's a night spot. I work there my nights off when we ain't makin' much money. I put on, cheap and tasteless outfits, not nice ones like this. Low and nasty apparel…and I…" Tears strangled the end of the sentence.

Seymour wanted to make everything bad leave Audrey's life forever. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, and that he would protect her. He wanted to get rid of Orin Scrivello, DDS, in any way he could. _Perhaps a thirsty plant..._Seymour quickly shook the vile thought from his mind.

"Audrey, you don't have to be afraid anymore. You can leave that all behind you. You're a wonderful person; I've always thought so. You know what I see beneath the bruises and the handcuffs? A girl I respect. And I always will."

"_Lift up your head…"_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you to everyone who read Chapter 1! If you love, hate, or something in-between, it, kindly let me know in a review :) thank you!_

"_Seymour's your man!" _

Her hands already rested on his shoulders, Audrey threw her arms around Seymour's neck and kissed him eagerly, and he responded with just as much passion, his arms wrapped securely around her waist. Her tongue found its way to his mouth, and he gladly accepted, deepening the kiss. Seymour snaked one hand to the back of her and entangled it in her blonde bob, pulling her even closer to him, if that were possible.

They could have remained there forever, entwined in the far corner of the back room, hands exploring soft, new skin, lips moving as one. They would have, in fact, had the bell above the shop door not rung.

At the first sound of the _ding_, the two jumped from each other, as far as they could go, Audrey smoothing her hair and dress and Seymour readjusting his glasses. "We're closed," Seymour called as he went out to the shop front. What, or who, he saw stopped him in his tracks.

"Where is she," the gruff, leather-clad man demanded, gripping Seymour by the collar of his shirt. "I—she—" he sputtered out to Orin Scrivello, DDS. Before the dentist could do anything else, though, Seymour heard a squeak of "I'm coming doctah!" and a clanking of sharp stilettos against linoleum. Audrey appeared just in the nick of time, her hair and makeup looking as flawless as it had when she arrived at work. Seymour was thrown from Orin's grip, staggering backward and crashing to the ground as the sadist began on Audrey. He grabbed her roughly by the wrist, "What the hell have you been doing?"

"Seymour and I—we hadta clean up from all the people here today!" Seymour was surprised and impressed by how quickly, how easily, she could lie to the menace. _She's probably had plenty of practice_…he pushed the thought aside for later. "I'm sorry Orin!"

"Sorry WHAT?" he yelled. "Doctah!" Audrey knew to reply. "I'm sorry _doctah_!"

"That's what I thought" were the last words Seymour heard from the dentist, who, tightening his grip on her wrist and twisting her arm, dragged her from the shop. Audrey just had time to turn her head and mouth "Bye, Seymour" before the door slammed shut.

Perhaps he imagined it, but Seymour thought he heard a low whimper of "_Feeed me_."


	3. Chapter 3

_Here is chapter 3! Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed; it's much appreciated. _

The dentist dragged Audrey just out of the shop before he smacked her hard with the back of his hand, his knuckles each leaving their own small bruise on her lily-white cheek. "Whore," he called her, "screwing some little punk behind my back!"

"Oh no, doctah, it's nothin' like that!" Audrey cried, "Seymour's nobody, just a guy at work."

Orin seized her roughly by the waist, drawing her dangerously close. "And why should I believe a dirty, lyin' _slut _like you?" he spat at her as she trembled in his gripped. This was how he liked her: afraid, shaking, shivering at his presence. Fear made pain a lot easier, and pain was all he needed.

"I…I'm all yours, doctah," she stuttered, wrapping her arms around him as affectionately as she could, hoping it would placate him, "not Seymour's." Orin threw the shaking woman to the rough, choppy Skid Row sidewalk, which scraped against the soft skin of her arms, legs, and cheek, sending runs through her nylons and drawing blood from her elbows and wrists.

Orin turned from her and paced towards his motorcycle as the blonde scrambled to stand and follow him. Removing his nitrous oxide puff from the pocket of his shiny leather jacket, he brought it to his nostril and took a long puff of the gas as he pulled Audrey onto his bike. _Tonight will be fun._

The sound of a revving motor and a shrill laugh rang through the little ghetto hauntingly, somehow still echoing after the two had left.

Once again, the corner florist was buzzing with business, with people trying to get a glimpse above the crowd of the mysterious Audrey II and paying good money for a fern or a few daisies while they craned their necks for a better view.

For one night, the plant hadn't wilted and forced Seymour to sacrifice his blood to the plant. He should have slept through the night for the first time in weeks, full of blood and ready for the next day.

But he couldn't.

He kissed Audrey—no, _Audrey_ kissed _him!_ It should have been the greatest night of his life! But as soon as she was in his arms, she was out of them, in the hands of a cruel, abusive man, and Seymour himself was left a few bruises, though small compared to what Orin inflicted on Audrey, from being thrown to the tile floor of the florist.

The he saw Orin hit her. He saw him threaten her then throw her to the pavement. Seymour wanted to stop him, to save her…but he was too weak to stand, let alone fight. He'd do nothing but get them both killed.

Still, Seymour was plagued with Audrey. Audrey, smiling at him from across the shop, a bouquet of lilies in her lily-white hands. Audrey, resting her head against him as she cried and he comforted. Audrey, toying with his hair with one hand, pressing herself close to him with the other, kissing his lips with all the love in the world…

Audrey, with a swollen purple welt covering her eye. Audrey, struggling against the forceful will of a certain forceful dentist. Audrey, lying on the sidewalk, bloody and battered…

It was another sleepless night, followed by another chaotic morning. Where is she, Seymour wondered to himself, conjuring more brutal images of her.

"It's passed noon!" Mr. Mushnik cried, breaking Seymour from his thoughts as they grew more and more graphic. "Where is she, Seymour?"

"Audrey had a date last night," Seymour called back in reply before telling the man about to pay that he should probably buy red roses, not tulips, to give to his soon-to-be fiancée.

"Of course she did! Audrey needs a doctah, not a date," Mushnik rolled his eyes, but Seymour gulped. "A doctah's the problem," he muttered to himself.

Seymour handled the cash register while Mr. Mushnik tried to get the customers to leave for his lunch hour. "We open up again in an hour!" Mushnik hollered out. "The Audrey II needs to eat, too!" The sea of patrons swarmed out the door, but, as if on cue, the bell above the door jingled just as soon as the last customer left. "Come back in an hour!" Mushnik called, not bothering to look at the door opener.

"Sorry I'm late, Mista Mushnik," a squeaky voice said quietly.

"Audrey! Where you been all day?" Mushnik turned to look at his employee; she was a mess. Her makeup was even thicker than usual, eyelids bluer, lips and cheeks redder, but it did little to cover the new bruises formed on her pale face. A particularly long one trailed around her right eye, matched by a raw red scrape on her left cheek. Her right cheek bore four small, aligned, raisin-shaped black and blue marks, in the exact shape of knuckles.

"Audrey, what happened to ya?" Mushnik then asked softly, "Here, let me take ya out to lunch."

"Uhh…thank you Mista Mushnik, but if you don't mind, I'd ratha stay here with Seymour and help him get some work before the rest of the day." Audrey smiled at Mushnik, and Seymour smiled at Audrey. Mushnik looked confused, but he simply shrugged and left the shop to the two storehands.

As soon as the boss was out of sight, Audrey ran behind the counter to Seymour and practically leaped into his arms to kiss him. The kiss was short, and when it broke, Seymour kept Audrey close to him in a warm embrace, one arm tight around her waist, and the other gently stroking her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Seymour gentle kissed the top of her head and, smiling at her, cooed, "It's okay, Audrey. You wanna talk?" Audrey nodded, and Seymour knelt down to sit in the hollow inside of the counter; he grinned up at her from his seat and, grinning goofily, hoping to make Audrey laugh, gently patted the ground next to him. Giggling, she sat down beside him and leaned her head against his shoulders. Seymour wrapped an arm around and inhaled, ready to start the conversation.

_I'm coming to a part in the story when I have to choose one of two ways the story can go. I may post a poll after the next chapter, if anyone would like to help me in this decision. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Here we are, with chapter 4! As I said at the end of the last chapter, I'll be posting a poll on my profile for where to take this story. Let's let the people decide ;) Please review with any questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, laving praise...now, on with the story!_

Before Seymour could say a word, Audrey seized him by the shoulders and quickly kissed him, then broke it, saying "Orin thinks we're together." She kissed him again, "he_ knows_ we're together." Another kiss, "If he figures it out for sure, he'll kill me." Another kiss, "worse, he'll kill _you_!" She leaned back and pulled him into her for a long, deep kiss, her back against the inside of the counter, Seymour hovering just above her, his hands on either side of her, keeping his balance.

Seymour lost himself in her kis, swept up by the flowery scent of her perfume, the soft touch of her skin, the sweet taste of her lips. His heart threatened to burst right out of his chest when she deftly moved her lips from his, running them along his jawline, sucking the delicate skin of his neck; his mouth gaped open in surprise and pleasure. Audrey pulled her head up and hooked her lips again to his, but after savoring a few sweet seconds of her, he finally found the will to break away from her. "Audrey?" "Mmm?" She latched onto his lips again, and again he broke away. "Audrey!"

This time she pulled back, blushing. "Sorry," she whispered, smiling a little, "I just ain't used ta that." Seymour smiled and wrapped his arms around her protectively, kissing the top of her head as she nuzzled into his chest. It was a perfect moment; Seymour hated to disturb it. But the clock was ticking and they had no time to waste, because too soon the shop would be packed again, and the day would be done again.

Sharply inhaling, Seymour finally asked, "What do you mean Orin knows?"

Audrey moved from against him and told him, "When we left here yesterday, he smacked me and told me he knew…I was screwin' ya." She was blushing as she continued. "That's how I got this," she indicated to the knuckle-shaped bruises, "and this," the raw scrape on her cheek.

"What about those?" he asked, pointing out purple marks formed around her wrists. "I didn't move outta here fast enough" was her reply.

"And that?" Seymour gently traced the bruise surrounding her eye. Audrey's white face turned as red as her lipstick, and she stuttered out, "I, uh…I didn't..um…_do_…well enough, last night, he said…" It was Seymour's turn to blush now.

"Audrey, why d'you let him do that to ya?" Seymour asked earnestly.

"Because guys like Orin are the only guys that want Skid Row whores," she muttered. "Nice guys don't want someone like me, not really."

"I do," Seymour said, taking her hand. "I have since ya came to work here. You're not a whore, Audrey. If anything, a great girl like you shouldn't want a poor jerk like me! You could have a prince, or a lawyer, or someone important, instead of a little plant guy."

"Aww, Seymour," Audrey grinned. "Who wouldn't want you? You're kind, you're smart, successful…I think you're pretty important!"

At this, Seymour cupped her face in his hands and, in his own sweet but awkward way, kissed her lightly. Their lips barely touched; it was, after all, the first time Seymour initiated a kiss. But Audrey knew what to do. She pressed her lips to his, closing all distance between them.

When the kissed ended, Audrey, her eyes still closed, dreamily said, "I want you, Seymour. Not Orin, or anyone else." Seymour turned to face her, his back against the counter side, and, sitting between his legs, she laid back against him, her head tucked under his chin, his arms around her slim waist.

"So what do you wanna do?" Seymour asked. She sighed, "I'm gonna hafta leave. Maybe not right away, or else he'll come after ya too."

"Won't he hurt ya?" he asked. "I don't want you to get hurt." "He's gonna hurt me no matter what," Audrey replied, almost smiling, "but I think you're worth a couple bruises." Seymour kissed the top of her head. "Don't get hurt for me," he said, "I can wait as long as ya need."

Their hour had nearly passed, so Seymour rose from inside the counter, then grabbed Audrey's hands to help her out of their little hiding space. Sure enough, Mr. Mushnik returned within minutes, and the customers followed after him. But neither Seymour nor Audrey were thinking much about flowers; their minds were focused on when they could share their next kiss.

_For all our Twoey fans, don't worry, he shows up in the next chapter :)_


End file.
